


Learning Curve

by Grundy



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: 74th Hunger Games, Behind the Scenes, Mentors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 05:25:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11373480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grundy/pseuds/Grundy
Summary: Johanna is still learning how this Mentor thing works. And it's not like she has anything better to do.





	Learning Curve

Joanna’s mentoring duties end two and a half minutes into the Games, which is about two minutes longer than Blight’s mentee lasts. She grabs herself a drink and pulls up a chair next to Abernathy, who is tense- and, for a wonder, sober. Then again, his tributes are still alive, which is unusual for 12. They rarely last through the bloodbath, even if they’re smart enough to run _away_ from the cornucopia. To her surprise, she sees the boy has joined the Career pack.

Haymitch ignores her attempts at conversation, not that she blamed him. Honestly, if she were him, she’d probably throw something at her.  But Blight already left with the mentors from 9 to drown their sorrows and she doesn’t want to go back to the seventh floor on her own.

To compensate Haymitch for her presence, she weaves her way through the couches to the buffet at the back of the room- some mentors don’t leave the room for days- and makes him a plate. She starts to pour him some wine before she thinks better of it and grabs non-alcoholic drinks. When she returns, she sets them at his elbow and waits.

Waiting is the worst part. She spent most of her own Games waiting to die. It wasn’t until she realized she was in the final 8 that it occurred to her she might actually have a chance. Everyone thought the scared weakling thing had been a strategy- really, it had been just an acceptance of reality. She had known from the moment her name was drawn that the odds were not in her favor. She’s spent every Games since waiting for her district’s tributes to die.

She and Haymitch have that in common, among other things. It’s rare for either of them to have tributes that have a fighting chance. This year, 12 has not one but two of them. The boy has joined the Career pack- an unexpected play for a kid from an outlying district- but the Girl on Fire struck out on her own, with every sign of wanting nothing but animals she can eat anywhere near her.

Only when Katniss has finally settled herself for the night does Haymitch acknowledge her presence, and even then she suspects it’s probably the food that does it.

“A Career? Twelve turning over a new leaf?” she asks as he wolfs down the dinner she picked for him.

Seven is not a career district. They may be lucky that their trades make them familiar with some weapons, but they don’t train. The Career pack in her Games had been composed of seventeen and eighteen year olds, all of them taller, heavier, and much more lethal than her.

Twelve is not a Career district either.

Districts that are not traditionally Careers tend to dislike those that are. _Strongly_ dislike.

He shrugs.

“With them or against them, kid.”

Haymitch has called her kid ever since she won her games and took her place in the ranks of the youngest victors. Well… actually since her family died. He didn’t talk to her much before that.

“With is safer for the time being,” Haymitch adds, between bites.

Johanna frowns as she watches the screen. ‘For the time being’ may be any length of time from seconds to days, but they both know at some point the others will turn on the boy from 12. He’s the weakest member of the pack, and they’ve only kept him as a weapon to use against the Girl on Fire- the girl they all know is the one to beat.

 “Why’d you tell him to do it?” she asks. “It doesn’t help his odds. He’d have been better off sticking with her and hiding.”

Haymitch looks at her, and she sees something in his eyes that warns her to brace herself. While she’s a mentor now, she’s only been doing this a couple years.  She still needs mentoring herself, and god knows Blight is no help.

“The odds are not in his favor, Mason. He’s not the one who will be going home at the end, and deep down, he knows it.”

She’s a little shocked how calmly he can manage to say it.

“There are two of them, honey. Two. Rules say only _one_ of them can win. Three of us want it to be her. That means I just might be able to bring her back alive.”

He glances at her expression, and his mouth twists in bitter amusement.

“Before you ask, no, _she_ doesn’t know.”

Johanna takes a deep breath and nods, taking it for what it is- a lesson. Haymitch is trying to help her. You save the ones you can. And then it hits her. Two of _them_.

“Haymitch, there’s only one of you,” she whispers.

“Finally realized what that means, have you?” he asks.

She ignores the sarcasm. She knows damn well it’s part of his defenses, the wall they all build around themselves after the Games.

She also doesn’t ask how he does it. He has no choice- none of them do. If he refused, Snow would kill him. Then the kids from 12 would have no mentor at all. No chance of sponsors. Not even a slim chance of survival. The odds are never in their favor, but even long odds are better than none.

Haymitch gives her a pitying look.

“It doesn’t get any easier,” he says, as kindly as he ever gets.

She nods, dazed, realizing that at some point this will be her fate unless she and Blight can manage to get 7 another victor.  Responsible every year for not one but two doomed kids. Two families to curse her when she comes home with a pine box instead of a living victor. No way to win, ever.

Haymitch doesn’t ask if she’s ok. He’s probably well aware what’s going on. He’s pretty good at people when he’s not drunk.

“Why don’t you get some sleep?” she suggests. “I’ll keep an eye on them for you, wake you if it looks like anything is going to happen.”

Haymitch wavers, longer than she expected him to. She’s surprised he didn’t take her up on it immediately- the other mentor most likely to have offered to help him out, Chaff, still has a tribute in the games, as does his district partner Seeder. The pair of them will be spelling each other through the night.

“You sure?” Haymitch asks slowly.

She can see him wanting to take up her offer, but still feeling like he’s taking advantage of a kid. He’s a decent person underneath all the wreckage, adopting _her_ of all people to take care of. Then again, they’re two of a kind.

Johanna snorts.

“I’m not tired,” she says drily.

She won’t sleep tonight anyway. During the Games, sleep means nightmares, and even if Blight was likely to be around, she wouldn’t want him near her when she’s trapped in one. He has his own flashback triggers, and the last thing they need is one of them accidentally killing the other while they’re locked in their own heads with their Games-created demons.

Usually Finnick would help her. The most sought after victor doesn’t like to sleep alone during the Games either. It’s not about sex, just about having another live body in the room when the nightmares start. Someone to hold on to. They both accept that there will be no good night’s sleep in this place. But Finnick is looking after Mags- the female tribute from 4 is part of the Career pack. Annie Cresta, who won the year before Johanna, is in no fit state to mentor, and surprisingly the Gamesmakers do not insist, at least not as long as Mags can still manage.

Haymitch glances over toward 4, then nods.

“I’ll be on a couch in the back,” he says, apparently not willing to be as far away as the 12th floor. She can’t blame him- if anything happens during the night, it’s liable to go quickly.

Johanna nods, and settles in to watch Katniss sleep and Peeta join the hunt.


End file.
